Alissa O’Brien, a member of the GNSI-New England Chapter, will be having her first solo art exhibit at Walden Pond Visitor Center from May 1, 2026 to July 31, 2026. She welcomes anyone who would like to come check out her work.
Artist Statement
I began creating pyrography on wood that I had rescued from the woodchipper when I was employed as a landscaper to help pay for my degree in natural science illustration. After the wood I saved was milled, hidden beneath the bark, a magnificent patterning in the grain was revealed. It was a story waiting to be told; using something discarded and making it special, digging deep beneath the surface to discover what is inherently essential in the ordinary but often unnoticed, to create something extraordinary about nature. A collaboration between nature, some trees, and an artist was formed.It was inevitable a calling such as this, would match with the writings of Henry David Thoreau, and the art would find its way to Walden Pond.“As Deliberate as Nature” is my solo exhibition of pyrography on wood from areas around Concord, as well as that of a tree fallen from the woods of Walden Pond, depicting the “cleansing and transformative” properties of nature, a narration of a journey into the woods and a voyage to the self. – Alissa O’Brien
